Author: Curry, TechFlow TechFlow
Original title: ClawdBot founder says he will never issue a token, Meme's supporters are going crazy.
On January 25, an open-source AI assistant called ClawdBot became a hit.
You've probably seen it frequently on Twitter and in major media outlets both domestically and internationally these past few days. The project has surpassed 40,000 stars on GitHub, and some foreigners jokingly say that the Mac mini will sell out because of it, since it needs to run 24/7, while a brand new Mac with no other tasks, convenience, and capabilities would be a better choice.
Meanwhile, nearly 10,000 people flocked to the project's Discord community.
ClawdBot founder Peter Steinberger also tweeted that he hardly looks at the code anymore and lets AI write it all;
This has sparked another phenomenal technical topic on Twitter: "How to Quickly Deploy ClawdBot," following the viral inspirational post by Dan Koe on "How to Fix Your Life in One Day."
Naturally, attention brings liquidity, and crypto enthusiasts flock to it.
The eponymous Meme token CLAWD actually launched on the 25th, and its market capitalization once surged to $16 million. Everything seems familiar: a trending AI project, a token with the same name, and early investors getting rich quick. The only problem is:
The founder said he would not issue a cryptocurrency.
On January 27, Peter Steinberger posted a statement on Twitter:
"Stop messaging me, stop harassing me. I will never issue any tokens. Any project that lists me as a token owner is a scam. No, I don't accept any fees. You are harming this project."
On the same day, he posted another tweet:
Does anyone on GitHub know how to help me get my account back? My account has been hijacked by crypto scammers.
If you don't send the tokens, I'll send you a private message. If you still don't send them, I'll hijack your account and send them for you.
Unlike the poor developers in the Meme Trench who are eagerly awaiting an official response, the developer who created ClawdBot doesn't seem to be short of money.
I looked up his background. Peter previously founded a company called PSPDFKit, which makes PDF development tools.
In 2021, Insight Partners invested €100 million in this company, which, at the exchange rate at the time, was approximately:
$116 million.
After the investment was completed, Peter and his co-founder retired. In his own words, it was like "coming back from retirement to mess with AI." Now he's back from retirement to do something with AI.
Someone who retires by making products really doesn't need your token earnings.
But the brothers in the Meme trenches need it.
This is the most interesting part of the story. In the crypto, the first principle is "who doesn't want to make money?" If a project becomes popular, issuing a token is a natural next step.
If you don't release it, you're either pretending or waiting for a better opportunity, even if this project doesn't have much to do with encryption.
Therefore, some people will send private messages, harass, or even hijack accounts to send messages using scams.
When AI Memes first became popular the year before last and last year, the strategy was like this:
First, there's a technical project or product prototype, then the team announces they want to issue a coin, the community follows suit, and the narrative is self-consistent. This is called "technological legitimacy": you have something, so you're qualified to issue one.
Things have changed now.
The current trend is to see the hype and rush to register coins with the same name, then wait for "official recognition." If they are recognized, everyone's happy; if not, the speculation continues. Retail investors can't tell which is real anyway.
In the meme community, this "forced adoption of a father figure" model is becoming the norm.
Whether it's Chinese memes or overseas memes, the pursuit of mentions, hints, or endorsements from official figures in a trending topic is an ongoing process.
However, this kind of initiative is a bit too aggressive.
Previously, memes were about "creating gods," finding a founder with a technical background and packaging them as the next Vitalik; later, they became about "riding on the coattails" of gods, with project names trying to associate themselves with Elon or Trump.
Now I'm a "binding god," if you don't cooperate I'll hijack your account.
From actively creating idols to being passively hijacked, the narrative cycle of AI Memes may have truly come to an end.
Peter Steinberger said something in the tweet above that is really worth thinking about: You are harming this project.
An open-source, free AI assistant that anyone can use is being forced to spend time dealing with the nuisances of the crypto.
I don't know if he'll shut down the project because of this, or simply make the code private. All I know is that if it really comes to that, the biggest losers won't be those who speculate on cryptocurrencies.
The biggest losers are the ordinary developers who genuinely wanted to use this tool.
But does it matter?
In the crypto, making money is what matters.
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